(Yicai Global) Dec. 11 -- Suning.Com’s shares tumbled to a more than six-year low after the retailer’s founder and his son pledged their stakes in Suning Holdings Group as collateral for loans from a unit of Alibaba Group Holding, the listed company’s second-largest shareholder.

Suning [SHE: 002024] fell as much as 7.5 percent to CNY8.03 (USD1.20) today, the lowest since September 2014, before closing 5.5 percent down at CNY8.20. The stock has fallen more than 20 percent this year.

Zhang Jindong, the founder and chairman of commercial giant Suning Holdings, Zhang Kangyang and Nanjing Runxian Enterprise Management Center pledged 100,000 shares with Taobao China Software on Dec. 4, according to the National Enterprise Credit Information Publicity System. Zhang Jindong also pledged his 65 percent stake in Suning Real Estate to the same e-commerce software firm on the same day.

Suning Holdings owns nearly 4 percent of Suning.Com, its core asset, the Nanjing-based retailer said in response to the stock pledge. Equity pledging is part of normal business cooperation and should have no real effect on the listed company’s strategic development and operation, it added.

The move comes after Wemedia reports claimed that Suning Holdings’ capital chain is broken, making it hard to repay its huge debts, so the group is likely to sell its e-commerce business to ease the crisis. Suning refuted the claims on Dec. 8.

Suning.Com, which runs grocery and electronics stores, narrowed its loss 76 percent to CNY1 billion (USD152.9 million) in the first nine months of this year from a year ago amid rising online sales after the coronavirus outbreak, according to its earnings report. But revenue fell 10 percent to CNY180.9 billion (USD27.7 billion) and its net cash flow was negative at CNY2.4 billion (USD367 million).

Zhang Jindong indirectly own almost half of Suning.Com. Taobao China became the firm's second-largest shareholder with its 20 percent stake after Alibaba and Suning Holdings partnered five years ago. In turn, Suning.Com invested CNY14 billion (USD2.1 billion) in Alibaba and Suning Holdings has been expanding its convenience store and retail cloud businesses.

Editor: Emmi Laine